Review: Ratchet & Clank (PlayStation 4)

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Reviewed by brickmii82,
posted Jun 27, 2018,
last updated Jun 27, 2018
I suppose I should go ahead and disclose the fact that I've never reviewed anything. Ever. I generally judge games on a single standard. Was it enjoyable to me. Whether it's a captivating storyline, a ridiculously immersive graphical eye-gasm, an action packed romp through worlds blowing up stupendously sized overpowered baddies ... if I enjoyed it, its good. That being said, I'll introduce you to my experience with the PS4 exclusive Ratchet & Clank with a single sentence...
I enjoyed it.

Jun 27, 2018

Publisher:Sony Interactive

Developer: Insomniac Entertainment

Single player

Local Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Co-operative

I haven't played any previous R&C games. This was my first introduction to the world contained therein as I haven't seen the holo-movie, which was based on the 1st holo-game, that this holo-game was based on. Confused? It doesn't matter. Much like our overly friendly rock buddy Korg from Marvel's Thor franchise says, "Nothing makes sense here. The only thing that makes sense is that nothing makes sense." You can drain an ocean with a gun, fling robots at a spaceship in lieu of missiles, and ... transmogrify those pesky Blarg sentries into sheep.

The intro into the game is what I would assume would be a cutscene from the movie. It begins with the disgraced hero, Captain Qwark, telling his new cellmate in prison the story of what transpired from "his point of view" during the events of the game/movie. As such, the game includes a goofy yet appealing commentary from the macho, chiseled abs hero. He anecdotally notes little hints and tips throughout in this fashion. You begin as Ratchet, the furry little Lombax protagonist of the title, in the workshop he's established on the planet of Veldin. He has a mentor named Grimroth Razz who helps you familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics of gameplay movement, along with the previously mentioned commentary from Qwark. It isn't very hard to get a foothold on the way the game is played. Whack, smash, and blow stuff up while avoiding the same being attempted towards you. There are little puzzles involved which leads me to the next introduction ... Clank
Clank is your partner in this space romp of irresponsible destruction and molecular manipulation. To avoid spoilers, as his introduction is a bit into the game and somewhat central to the story in my opinion, I'll just say that he's a Warbot that switched sides. He's analytical, creative, and at times a bit sarcastic. With these personality traits he is your guy for most of the puzzle portions of the game. They can be challenging at times, but I did find them an enjoyable addition to the title. as Clank you solve 3D platform puzzles where you throw little bots around in order to move through an area, with the ability to transform the bots into useful apparatus' appropriate for the needs of the situation. As Ratchet, you utilize your trusty Trespasser (TM by Gadgetron) to essentially hack locks through a process where you solve a circular puzzle by rotating and enabling/disabling lasers to line them all up with corresponding pads on the outside of the circles you rotate. Both of these puzzle scenarios I found easy to understand, yet challenging enough to be enjoyable.
The worlds you visit in your quest are designed uniquely in each having different environments, and vast areas of exploration. Many of the explorable areas you'll have to return to later in the game when you have the appropriate equipment to do so. You may also find a few bugs here and there in the graphics, but that could depend on what PS4 you're playing on. I was on a Slim model. From jetpacks, to underwater breathing masks, to raritanium modifications to your spaceship, there is a lot of equipment and weapon upgrades to be had. You haven't lived until you turn a robot pitbull into a sheep, then blow aforementioned sheep up in a paradoxical explosion, but we'll touch on the weapons a bit later. For now, let's just focus on the world designs. There are 12 different worlds in total, and they all feel unique. You have a desert planet, an ocean paradise, a toxic polluted industrial corporatized dump, a Death Star-ish battle station, and various other well imagined and designed worlds complete with enemies to sheepinate, buzz-saw, atomically disintegrate ... I'm getting carried away again. Screw it lets just get right into it now.

The weapons.

Oh my, did I find the various weapons and upgrades extremely satisfying. The system is designed in that the initial acquisition of your arsenal isn't very difficult or tedious, and the upgrade process doesn't feel very grindy. It meshes very well with the progression of the game, and if anything, makes things sometimes seem too easy. The weapons are bought and upgraded through the Gadgetron vendors placed throughout the game, and are paid for with bolts (for weapons) and raritanium crystals (for upgrades) which are collected from baddies and environmental destruction. You get access to traps, flame-throwers, homing-missile launchers, a sheep transmogrifier, and ....Mr. Zurkon, A violent little robot assistant that's quite fond of inflicting pain. I'd say more, but .... yeeeahh just pick him up in-game when he comes available. You won't regret it. There's various other weapons to be utilized that I haven't described, but for the sake of keeping this somewhat short I'll end this Gadgetron weapons ad with this, There's a Challenge Mode that's accessible after completing the first run through that allows more upgrades.

Cons-
Average story-
No character development-
Minor graphics and environment bugs

10

Presentation

9

Gameplay

7

Lasting Appeal

7.8

out of 10

Overall(not an average)
All in all if I were to rate this game on a 100 point scale, I'd give it a 78/100. It's creatively designed, appealing to the eye, the destruction is addictive, and the puzzles and mechanics are a pleasure. The cons I found, is that the story was alright, the characters were hard to get attached to, and there were a few bugs here and there that while not game-breaking, just annoying to see or experience. If you have kids, this is a great game to play with them. If, not, it's worth the 15-20$US it sells for now. I'd recommend it certainly. Again, I enjoyed it.

I'll add my two cents. This game is supposed to be based off the movie that's based off the first game in the series. One con for me is the framerate, the R&C games on the PS2 were 60fps! The PS4 R&C is 30FPS. Other than that, solid review.

Now your review is hidden. It won't appear front page and many people won't know this review exists. All the work to write went to waste. You should post your review in a blog next time so it'll appear in the recent content section and more people will see it. That's what I see some people doing.

Now your review is hidden. It won't appear front page and many people won't know this review exists. All the work to write went to waste. You should post your review in a blog next time so it'll appear in the recent content section and more people will see it. That's what I see some people doing.

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No? People do look in the User Review section, and it makes it easier for Mag Staff to look at potential reviewers far easier. The middle ground would be to post a status update with a link to the user review if you're worried it'll be buried.

@Scarlet And how many people would think to do that for User reviews? Not that many people look at User reviews. Most people look at whats in the recent content section. I'm pretty sure lots of people don't know user reviews exist. I was surprised when I found that it existed.

I don't know what you mean by mag staff to look at potential reviews far easier.

@Scarlet Not just User Reviews but also reviews from mag staff. I think it'll get you guys more views.
I'm really interested if it will get more people to read your reviews. Maybe you guys can implement it and see how it goes. Maybe it'll get you guys more attention to your reviews, maybe not. But it doesn't hurt to try and experiment.

I know that that nature of reviews some people tend to not read them because they are long and people just skip to the score. Still even if people do that, you'll probably get more people commenting in the review section about the game.

Now your review is hidden. It won't appear front page and many people won't know this review exists. All the work to write went to waste. You should post your review in a blog next time so it'll appear in the recent content section and more people will see it. That's what I see some people doing.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for reading it! Was it good? And yeah, I wish it was on the front page along with the staff reviews, but I suppose it just hadn't been proposed maybe?!? Idk, but it was fun doing it. Anyways, whatcha think?

Hey thanks for reading it! Was it good? And yeah, I wish it was on the front page along with the staff reviews, but I suppose it just hadn't been proposed maybe?!? Idk, but it was fun doing it. Anyways, whatcha think?

Click to expand...

I think your review was good. It's a little rough in a few areas. Like the part when you talk about the bugs. You don't really go into details on what the bugs were.

For the game itself, I liked the OG Ratchet & Clank a lot better. The music is superior, just check out the music Novalis, Aridia, Eudora. And the story is also better.

In this version there not much head on conflict between Ratchet and Clank. In the OG, Ratchet and Clank ended up not wanting to work with each other, Ratchet didn't care about saving the world. And Ratchet criticized people for being nerds, total opposite personality in the new version where he embraced being a nerd. Then as the story progressed they learned to deal with and work with each other. Not like the new version where there's less character progression. It's like Ratchet & Clank don't even know each other.